Warehouse 13: "For the Team"Review

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The team splits up for an explosive, yet charming, episode.

By Ramsey Isler

Warehouse 13 is really on a hot streak now. This latest episode is a new link in a chain of stories that have marked a dramatic improvement in the series and it feels like everyone involved in the production is starting to hit their stride. There's still some room for tweaks, but I've got to admit it's getting better all the time.

This week's story starts off with an intro that is mostly lighthearted, but Pete is still on the bench while he works out some issues that came up in the previous story. With Pete grounded, Claudia gets the nod as Myka's back-up on a mission to investigate some suspicious deaths on a college wrestling team (this must've been a hard one for Eddie McClintock to sit out, since he actually was a wrestler). The girls and boys get separated as Claudia and Myka are off to view some wet young man flesh in a college locker room, and Artie and Pete get some special attention from a couple of lady doctors. Oh, by the way, spontaneous human combustion is in this story too.

The opening segment is full of great stuff, and it sets the tone for a story that is really character-driven. Artie becomes "more human" in this tale, as his appendix starts growing back as a side-effect of working in the warehouse (which apparently happens periodically) and gets a house call from the lovely warehouse designated doctor, Vanessa (played by veteran actress Lindsay Wagner...you know, the Sleep Number bed lady). Meanwhile, the love-hate relationship between Pete and Dr. Hernandez (the town vet) finally progresses into the inevitable dating stage. And through it all, there's a subtle theme of living your life to the fullest while you have the time do so, something that both Artie and Pete needed to work on. I was impressed with the skill the writers showed in weaving the theme into these last couple of stories.

The ladies are off in California, where Claudia is really awkward in her new role as Myka Jr. in her first official field assignment. Allison Scagliotti continues to do fantastic work with this character, and I'm glad the producers realize this and are giving her more to do in these episodes. To add to the women's independence theme, H.G. Wells returns, looking for the same artifact that Myka and Claudia are after. The ladies really drive this story, amidst all the fit wrestlers. Might this have been a little pandering to the show's female audience?

If I could use one word to describe this episode, it's "cute". There are a lot of touching moments between Artie and Pete and Claudia, Myka, and even H.G. Wells. For the most part, this episode was really fun, but there were a few things that didn't quite jive with me.

The last quarter of the episode picks up the pace, and moves the story forward with a nice twist. As always, half the fun of any WH13 episode is figuring out who's really behind the craziness. Christian Campbell (Neve Campbell's older bro) has a limited but important role as a red herring/corporate CEO. The show usually utilizes red herrings whenever possible, but this time I felt a little cheated because the true culprit wasn't any of the "real" suspects, and it was just some guy thrown in at the end.

Also on my short list of gripes is how the H.G. Wells storyline seems to be developing. Though H.G. does save the day, her dialogue with Myka and efforts to convince her that she's actually fighting for good seem kind of contrived. And that scene with the SUV barreling down on them was straight out of the TV trope handbook. They had like fifteen seconds to just move out of the way.

But the few flaws here don't spoil the whole package. There are a lot of personal changes going on with the cast of this show, and it's good. The series has momentarily put aside a lot of the supernatural zaniness of the story and instead focused on the characters (and actors) that really make the show work. It seems like the series is achieving a good balance of comedy, drama, and the unique warehouse lore. Even the special effects work is getting better (that spontaneous combustion scene was perfect). Could this end up being the best show on SyFy? Time will tell.